Shafia Monroe

Shafia M. Monroe a midwife veteran of thirty-years was certified by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance. She is a a Childbirth Educator, a Doula Trainer, a health activist, organizer, and international speaker. She holds a BA in sociology, with a concentration in medical sociology, from the University of Massachusetts.  Monroe is also the founder and President of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC); the nation’s first Black midwifery training, breastfeeding promotion and capacity building non-profit organization, headquartered in Portland, Oregon.  Monroe promotes midwifery as solution to better birth outcomes, social justice, and sustainability.  

She is the visionary behind the prominent International Black Midwives and Healers Conference that brings midwives, doulas and healers together to implement strategies for reducing infant and maternal mortality and strengthen families.  In 2007 Monroe, self-published the Black Midwives and Prenatal Providers Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents to give women choices in birth.

As early as seven years of age Shafia realized she had been called to be a healer. At eighteen years old she became involved with the midwifery and home birth movement and witnessed the under-representation of African American women as midwives and doulas. This was the beginning of her organized outreach efforts, not only to recruit and train Black midwives as a method of reducing infant mortality, but to give Black women a voice to safe guard their reproductive health and to consider home birth for empowerment.

As a president and founder she travels internationally organizing midwives of color to reclaim their power, stand for inclusion, outreach and build bridges.

Her diverse audience has included businesses, academic institutions and individuals, including:
Rikki Lake, Black Men’s Coalition, Albina Rotary Club, Oregon Health and Sciences University, The African Women’s Coalition, State of Oregon’s Tobacco Advisory Committee, San Francisco Healthy Birth Initiative, California Black Parenting, Inc., ACNM Midwives of Color Association, Minnesota’s Phillips Powderhouse Cultural Wellness Center, The 4th Annual Muslim Women’s Conference, National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences and University,  Harlem Birth Action Committee, Midwives Alliance of North American, Midwifery Today Conference, Portland State University, Universite De Libre in Cali, Colombia (South America), Black Women and Wellness Inc., Yele, Sierra Leone (West Africa), The Birth Congress—Water Birth International, High Schools, National Conferences, and many more.

Monroe’s work to reduce infant mortality and promote midwifery has earned her numerous awards:

  • The Achievement Award - 4th Annual Muslim Women’s Conference, LA, CA 2008
  • Women Making History in Portland’s- A Mural - City of Portland, OR, 2007
  • Certificate of Recognition for Preserving the Legacy of Midwifery - National Institute of Health (NIH), 2007
  • Proclamation from Georgia’s State Representative Mabel “Able” for her commitment to reducing infant mortality, 2006
  • Wall of Tolerance Certificate from the late Rosa Parks for her commitment to peace and justice, 2006
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Merit Award - The Skanner Foundation, Portland, OR, 2003
  • Outstanding Contributions - Massachusetts Department of Public Health - Boston, MA, 1991
  • The Haki Madhubuti/Family Tree Award - Urban Security Patrols, Boston, MA, 1991
  • Outstanding Leadership - Coalition for Better Birth Outcomes, Boston, MA, 1991
  • Women Who Care - Women in Philanthropy, Boston, MA, 1991
  • Unsung Hero of Community Medicine – The Boston Institute for Social Therapy

Her extraordinary model and advocacy is being replicated throughout the nation and has been featured in the following:

  • Bringin Da Spirit, documentary produced by Rhonda Haynes
  • It Just Ain't Fair, by Annette Dula and Sara Goering
  • Granny Midwives and Black Women Writers, by Valerie Lee
  • Sisters on a Journey: Portraits of American Midwives, by Penfield Chester
  • Our Bodies, Ourselves: a Book By and For Women, by Boston Women's Health Book Collective
  • Magazine coverage: Essence, Heart and Soul, Midwifery Today, World Pulse and Mothering Magazine